Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

double bassist The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Simila ...

chamber jazz Chamber jazz is a genre of jazz involving small, acoustic-based ensembles where group interplay is important. It is influenced aesthetically by the small ensembles of chamber music in musical neoclassicism and is often influenced by classical f ...

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. It may lack net composition, beat, or structured melody.The Ambient Century by Mark Prendergast, Bloomsbury, London, 2003. It u ...

ECM Records ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is an independent record label founded by Karl Egger, Manfred Eicher and Manfred Scheffner in Munich in 1969. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a variety of recordings, and ECM's a ...

The Colours of Chloë ''The Colours of Chloë'' is an album by German double bassist and composer Eberhard Weber recorded in 1973 and released on the ECM label. In addition to his career as a musician, he also worked for many years as a television and theater director. He has designed an electric-acoustic bass with an additional string tuned to C. Weber's music, often in a melancholic tone, frequently utilizes ostinatos, yet is highly organized in its colouring and attention to detail. He was an early proponent of the solid-body electric double bass, which he has played regularly since the early 1970s. From the early 1960s to the early 1970s, Weber's closest musical association was with pianist

Wolfgang Dauner Wolfgang Dauner (; 30 December 1935 – 10 January 2020) was a German jazz pianist who co-founded the United Jazz + Rock Ensemble. He worked with Hans Koller, Albert Mangelsdorff, Volker Kriegel and Ack van Rooyen and composed for radio, tel ...

. Their many mutual projects were diverse, from mainstream jazz to jazz-rock fusion to avant-garde sound experiments. During this period, Weber also played and recorded with pianists

Hampton Hawes Hampton Barnett Hawes Jr. (November 13, 1928 – May 22, 1977) was an American jazz pianist. He was the author of the memoir ''Raise Up Off Me'', which won the Deems-Taylor Award for music writing in 1975. Early life Hampton Hawes was born on ...

and

Mal Waldron Malcolm Earl "Mal" Waldron (August 16, 1925 – December 2, 2002) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He started playing professionally in New York in 1950, after graduating from college. In the following dozen years or so Wa ...

, guitarists

Baden Powell de Aquino Baden Powell de Aquino (; 6 August 1937 – 26 September 2000), known professionally as Baden Powell, was a Brazilian guitarist. He combined classical techniques with popular harmony and swing. He performed in many styles, including bossa nova, ...

and

Joe Pass Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua; January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. Pass is well known for his work stemming from numerous collaborations with pianist Oscar Peterson and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, an ...

, The Mike Gibbs Orchestra, violinist

Stephane Grappelli Stephane may refer to: * Stéphane, a French given name * Stephane (Ancient Greece), a vestment in ancient Greece * Stephane (Paphlagonia) Stephane ( grc, Στεφάνη) was a small port town on the coast of ancient Paphlagonia, according to Arr ...

, and many others. Starting with ''The Colours of Chloë'', Weber has released 13 more records under his own name, all on ECM. The ECM association also led to collaborations with other ECM recording artists such as

Gary Burton Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused him to be he ...

(''Ring'', 1974; ''Passengers'', 1976),

Ralph Towner Ralph Towner (born March 1, 1940) is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and bandleader. He plays the twelve-string guitar, classical guitar, piano, synthesizer, percussion, trumpet and French horn. Biography Towner was born i ...

(''

Solstice A solstice is an event that occurs when the Sun appears to reach its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around June 21 and December 21. In many countr ...

'', 1975; ''

Solstice/Sound and Shadows ''Solstice/Sound and Shadows '' is an album by American guitarist Ralph Towner that was released on the ECM label in 1977. It is the second album to feature the ''Solstice'' quartet of Towner with Jan Garbarek, Eberhard Weber and Jon Christense ...

'', 1977),

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works, and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progre ...

(''

Watercolors Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

'', 1977), and

Jan Garbarek Jan Garbarek () (born 4 March 1947) is a Norwegian jazz saxophonist, who is also active in classical music and world music. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Østfold, southeastern Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war, Czesław ...

(10 recordings between 1978 and 1998). In the mid-1970s Weber formed his own group, Colours, with

Charlie Mariano Carmine Ugo Mariano (November 12, 1923 – June 16, 2009) was an American jazz saxophonist who focused on the alto and soprano saxophone. He occasionally performed and recorded on flute and nadaswaram as well. Biography Mariano was born in ...

(soprano saxophone, flutes),

Rainer Brüninghaus Rainer Brüninghaus (born 21 November 1949) is a German jazz pianist, composer and university teacher. Career He was born in Bad Pyrmont, Lower Saxony, Germany. Rainer Brüninghaus was educated in classical piano, playing from the age of nine, ...

(piano, synthesizer) and Jon Christensen (drums). After their first recording, ''Yellow Fields'' (1975), Christensen left and was replaced by

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remains the longest-serving chief justice and fourth-longes ...

. The group toured extensively and recorded two further records, ''Silent Feet'' (1977) and ''Little Movements'' (1980), before disbanding. Since the early 1980s, Weber has regularly collaborated with the British singer-songwriter

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights (song), Wuthering Heights", ...

, playing on four of her last six studio albums (''

The Dreaming The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by his co ...

'', 1982; ''

Hounds of Love ''Hounds of Love'' is the fifth studio album by English musician Kate Bush, released on 16 September 1985 by EMI Records. It was a commercial success and marked a return to the public eye for Bush after the relatively low sales of her previous ...

'', 1985; ''

The Sensual World ''The Sensual World'' is the sixth studio album by the English art rock singer Kate Bush, released on 16 October 1989 by EMI Records. It reached No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart. It has been certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (B ...

'', 1989; '' Aerial'', 2005). During the 1980s, Weber toured with Barbara Thompson's jazz ensemble Paraphernalia. Since 1990, Weber's touring has been limited, and he has had only two new recordings under his own name: The 2001 release ''Endless Days'' is an elemental fusion of jazz and classical music flavors, fitting well the moniker ''chamber jazz''. His main touring activity during that period was as a regular member of the Jan Garbarek Group. On the occasion of his 65th birthday, in March, 2005 he recorded Stages of a Long Journey, a live concert with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra and featuring Gary Burton, Wolfgang Dauner and Jan Garbarek. In 2009 ECM also re-released his albums '' Yellow Fields'', ''

Silent Feet ''Silent Feet'' is an album by German double bassist and composer Eberhard Weber recorded in 1977 and released on the ECM label.Little Movements'' as a 3-CD collection titled "Colours". In 2007, Weber suffered a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

and was subsequently unable to perform. In a January 2010 interview with ''

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter Allg ...

'', he spoke about his medical condition and future projects. Weber was awarded the prestigious Albert Mangelsdorff-Preis in November 2009. A box set of his 1970s works was released by ECM Records the same month. Weber's latest albums, ''Résumé'' (2012) and ''Encore'' (2015) comprise solos from his performances worldwide with The Jan Garbarek Group, overdubbed with keyboards/treatments by Weber, sax by Garbarek, and flügelhorn by Ack Van Rooyen. His autobiography, ''Résumé'', was published in 2015. An English translation by Heidi Kirk - ''Eberhard Weber: A German Jazz Story'' - was published in October 2021. In 2021,

Lyle Mays Lyle David Mays (November 27, 1953 – February 10, 2020) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and member of the Pat Metheny Group. Metheny and Mays composed and arranged nearly all of the group's music, for which Mays won eleven Grammy Awar ...

posthumously released the 13-minute recording ''Eberhard'', revised from a 2009 composition debuted at Lawrence University and written as a tribute to Weber's influential compositional style. It was awarded a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition in 2022.

Discography

As leader

* ''

The Colours of Chloë ''The Colours of Chloë'' is an album by German double bassist and composer Eberhard Weber recorded in 1973 and released on the ECM label.Yellow Fields'' (1975) * ''

The Following Morning ''The Following Morning'' is an album by German double bassist and composer Eberhard Weber recorded in 1976 and released on the ECM label.Silent Feet ''Silent Feet'' is an album by German double bassist and composer Eberhard Weber recorded in 1977 and released on the ECM label.Fluid Rustle'' (1979) * '' Little Movements'' (1980) * '' Later That Evening'' (1982) * ''

Chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

'' (1984) * ''

Orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

'' (1988) * ''

Pendulum A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the ...

'' (1993) * '' Endless Days'' (2001) * '' Stages of a Long Journey'' (2007) * ''

Résumé A résumé, sometimes spelled resume (or alternatively resumé), also called a curriculum vitae (CV), is a document created and used by a person to present their background, skills, and accomplishments. Résumés can be used for a variety of re ...

'' (2012) * ''

Encore An encore is an additional performance given by performers after the planned show has ended, usually in response to extended applause from the audience.Lalange Cochrane, in ''Oxford Companion to Music'', Alison Latham, ed., Oxford University Pres ...

'' (2015) * '' Hommage à Eberhard Weber'' (2015) * '' Once Upon a Time (Live in Avignon)'' (2021)

Compilation albums

* ''Works'' (ECM, 1985) * ''Rarum: Selected Recordings'' (ECM, 2004) * ''Colours'' (ECM, 2010) (reissue compiling ''Yellow Fields'', ''Silent Feet'' and ''Little Movements'')

As sideman

With

Gary Burton Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused him to be he ...

* ''

Ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

'' (ECM, 1974) * ''

Passengers A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. Th ...

'' (ECM, 1976) With

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights (song), Wuthering Heights", ...

* ''

The Dreaming The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal beliefs. It was originally used by Francis Gillen, quickly adopted by his co ...

'' (1982) * ''

Hounds of Love ''Hounds of Love'' is the fifth studio album by English musician Kate Bush, released on 16 September 1985 by EMI Records. It was a commercial success and marked a return to the public eye for Bush after the relatively low sales of her previous ...

'' (1985) * ''

The Sensual World ''The Sensual World'' is the sixth studio album by the English art rock singer Kate Bush, released on 16 October 1989 by EMI Records. It reached No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart. It has been certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (B ...

'' (1989) * '' Aerial'' (2005) With

Jan Garbarek Jan Garbarek () (born 4 March 1947) is a Norwegian jazz saxophonist, who is also active in classical music and world music. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Østfold, southeastern Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war, Czesław ...

* Photo with Blue Sky, White Cloud, Wires, Windows and a Red Roof (ECM, 1979) * '' Paths, Prints'' (ECM, 1981) * '' Wayfarer'' (ECM, 1983) * '' It's OK to Listen to the Gray Voice'' (ECM, 1985) * '' All Those Born with Wings'' (ECM, 1987) * '' Legend of the Seven Dreams'' (ECM, 1988) * ''

I Took Up the Runes ''I Took Up the Runes'' is an album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek released on the ECM Records, ECM label and performed by Garbarek, Rainer Brüninghaus, Eberhard Weber, Nana Vasconcelos, Manu Katché, and Bugge Wesseltoft with Ingor Ánte � ...

'' (ECM, 1990) * ''

Twelve Moons ''Twelve Moons'' is an album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek recorded in 1992 and released on the ECM label.

'' (ECM, 1992) * '' Visible World'' (ECM, 1995) * ''

Rites Rail India Technical and Economic Service Limited, abbreviated as RITES Ltd, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian Railways, Ministry of Railways, Government of India. It is an engineering consultancy corporation, specializing in the field ...

'' (ECM, 1998) With

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works, and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progre ...

* ''

Watercolors Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

'' (ECM, 1977) With

Ralph Towner Ralph Towner (born March 1, 1940) is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and bandleader. He plays the twelve-string guitar, classical guitar, piano, synthesizer, percussion, trumpet and French horn. Biography Towner was born i ...

* ''

Solstice A solstice is an event that occurs when the Sun appears to reach its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around June 21 and December 21. In many countr ...

'' (ECM, 1975) * ''

Solstice/Sound and Shadows ''Solstice/Sound and Shadows '' is an album by American guitarist Ralph Towner that was released on the ECM label in 1977. It is the second album to feature the ''Solstice'' quartet of Towner with Jan Garbarek, Eberhard Weber and Jon Christense ...

'' (ECM, 1977) With

Mal Waldron Malcolm Earl "Mal" Waldron (August 16, 1925 – December 2, 2002) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He started playing professionally in New York in 1950, after graduating from college. In the following dozen years or so Wa ...

* '' The Call'' (JAPO, 1971)

With others

''See "External Links" below for a complete discography'' *

Wolfgang Dauner Wolfgang Dauner (; 30 December 1935 – 10 January 2020) was a German jazz pianist who co-founded the United Jazz + Rock Ensemble. He worked with Hans Koller, Albert Mangelsdorff, Volker Kriegel and Ack van Rooyen and composed for radio, tel ...

, ''Dream Talk'' (1964), ''Free Action'' (1967), ''Output'' (1970), ''The Oimels'' (1970) *

Hampton Hawes Hampton Barnett Hawes Jr. (November 13, 1928 – May 22, 1977) was an American jazz pianist. He was the author of the memoir ''Raise Up Off Me'', which won the Deems-Taylor Award for music writing in 1975. Early life Hampton Hawes was born on ...

, ''Hamps' Piano'' (1967) * Baden Powell, ''Poema en Guitar'' (1968), ''Solitude on Guitar'' (1971) *

Joe Pass Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua; January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. Pass is well known for his work stemming from numerous collaborations with pianist Oscar Peterson and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, an ...

, ''

Intercontinental Intercontinental is an adjective to describe something which relates to more than one continent. Intercontinental may also refer to: * Intercontinental ballistic missile, a long-range guided ballistic missile * InterContinental Hotels Group (IH ...

'' (1970) * Michael Naura, ''Vanessa'' (1974) & ''Call'' (1975) * Ernest Ranglin, Ranglypso (1976), MPS *

Stephane Grappelli Stephane may refer to: * Stéphane, a French given name * Stephane (Ancient Greece), a vestment in ancient Greece * Stephane (Paphlagonia) Stephane ( grc, Στεφάνη) was a small port town on the coast of ancient Paphlagonia, according to Arr ...

, ''Afternoon in Paris'' (1971) *

The Singers Unlimited The Singers Unlimited was a four-part jazz vocal group formed by Gene Puerling in 1971. The group included Len Dresslar (better known as the Jolly Green Giant in General Mills commercials), Bonnie Herman, and Don Shelton. History Gene Puerlin ...

with Art Van Damme, ''Invitation'' (1973) *

Benny Bailey Ernest Harold "Benny" Bailey (August 13, 1925 – April 14, 2005) was an American jazz trumpeter. Biography A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Bailey briefly studied flute and piano before turning to trumpet. He attended the Cleveland Conserva ...

''Islands'' (1976) * Manfred Schoof Orchestra, ''Reflections'' (1983) *

Graeme Revell Graeme Revell (born 23 October 1955) is a New Zealand musician and composer. He came to prominence in the 1980s as the leader of the industrial/electronic group SPK. Since the 1990s he has worked primarily as a film score composer. Some of ...

, ''Body of Evidence: Motion Picture Soundtrack'' (1993) * United Jazz + Rock Ensemble, including The Break Even Point and United Live Opus Sechs

Literary connections

Weber has, on at least five occasions, drawn on text from the book ''

Watership Down ''Watership Down'' is an adventure novel by English author Richard Adams, published by Rex Collings Ltd of London in 1972. Set in Berkshire in southern England, the story features a small group of rabbits. Although they live in their natura ...

'' (by Richard Adams) for the names of his compositions and albums. Examples include "Silent Feet" and "Eyes That Can See in the Dark" from the ''Silent Feet'' album; "Often in the Open" from the ''Later That Evening'' album; and "Quiet Departures" and "Fluid Rustle" on the ''Fluid Rustle'' album.

References

External links

Discography

Eberhard Weber on ECM Records
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weber, Eberhard 20th-century double-bassists 21st-century double-bassists Chamber jazz double-bassists Post-bop double-bassists 1940 births Living people Musicians from Stuttgart German jazz double-bassists Male double-bassists ECM Records artists United Jazz + Rock Ensemble members 20th-century German male musicians 21st-century German male musicians German male jazz musicians

Biography

Discography

As leader

Compilation albums

As sideman

With others

Literary connections

See also

References

External links